>> i think that's right. but i think that they might understand it if it were bill clinton explaining it to them. i think that -- that obama really has been awful at explaining his policies and explaining the state of the economy for the last three or four years. >> i'd like to say again policies do matter deeply. example, for the viewer, next year it's predicted we'll go into recession again if the fiscal cliff is not addressed. and we do go over it. these are decisions that have to be made by lawmakers before christmas time or the new year in regard to tax and sequester and spending. it's there in the books, and it's probably accurate. i think we let ourselves off the hook when we compare ourselves to europe. it's not so great just to be less bad than the others which is where we are. >> i want to first talk about the fiscal cliff. is it going to happen? >> no, it's not. i've been doing this for 43 years, and i suppose i should be a cynic by now, but i'm not. i'm very optimistic that this is going to be han